Fly-killer brush.



E. E. RICE. F`LY KILLER BnusH.

Feb. 1

' (no mmol.)

WTNEEEEE Patented Mayl, |900. f

" 'Nrrnn arena unice.

FLY-KILLER BRUSH.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 648,794, dated May 1, 1900. Application filed February 20, 1899. Serial 110.706.237. (No model.)

To @ZL whom. t NMI/y concern:

i parts.

My invention is an improvement in wire brushes, and has particular reference to that class thereof which are thin, flat, and broad, and commonly known as iiy-killeis. usual form of this kind of brush when made -ofwire is something likea broom; but be'- 'cause of the smooth surface of the wire and the difficulty of holding it in place it has been foundcxceedingly diliieult to retain the iudividual wires in the handle andto'keepthem in their propel' relative spread-out positions, as the Wires would persist in slipping on each other and becoming loose and disarranged in the handle, and at their free ends they would become uneven and disarranged because of the bending back and forth in use. In order to hold the brush-wires in their proper spread positions, it has been customary to sew or stitch the wires into numerous small bunches, which tend thereby to spread' and maintain .the dat shape and relative positions of the 'wires at about their mid-length, the stitching being commonly with some strong cord; but in 'spite of the lirmest stitching and tying of the cord which was possible it would .nevertheless slip on the smooth surface of the Wires, and as the y-killer in use is bent considerably at or near the handle the result has been that these holding-cords would creep .along the wires, due to the sliding motion of the latter relatively to each other in each bunch, so that ultimately the cord would be uneven, 'having crept either toward the handle orv toward the tips, proving a source of considerable trouble and tending to hold the brushwires out of proper position instead of maintaining them in preper position. Accordingly I have devised the herein-described ily-killer,

in which all .the above difficulties are obviatcd by. a very inexpensive and neat construction, which will be set forth in detail in the following description, reference being had The to the accompanying drawings, in which I have shown a preferred embodiment of the invention. n

In the drawings, Figure l represents in side elevation a .brushot the fly-killer type iliade in accordance With my invention. Fig. 2 is a sectional detail thereof, showing the means of preventing the creeping tendency ot' the cord on the wire. Fig. 3 is a perspective View of the holding end of the handle, whereby the brush-wires are given lateral support and maintained rigidly in place.'

As already stated, one special diiculty in this style of' brush is that the wires have comparatively-little.frictional hold on eachother, and therefore the problems of their lmanufacture are quite diiierent and more difficult than in the manufacture of ordinary fiber and bristle-.brushes,.and thewiresale exceedingly hard to keep in place, but tendl almost inevitably to work loose from the handle, either slippingout past each other or working around on each other out of place, soas to become crossed or hunched improperly. Accordingly I provide a handle a, of any suitable material, herein shown as Wood, and make atransverse longitudinal slit a in its outer end, in which -I securea holding Wire or pin a2. 'One object of providing this special construction of handles is to give a relatively -large supporting or staying surface d3, against which the brush-wires' may rest compactly and solidly Without any chance of shifting, the two opposite surfaces formed by the sides of the slit acting asabutments, which not only support the Wires, but maintain them unyieldingly in proper spread position, whereas if the brush-Wires were simply bent at their middle and then bound about by a binding-Wire in the usual manner the wires would naturally bunch together in a more or less cylindrical shape, and even if originallylattened out they would tend to assume a'cylindrical shape in use and gradually distort the proper shape of theobrush;v

but by provid-ing the shaped handle shown in Fig. 3 thscannot take place. Moreover, by providing the cross-pin a2 it becomes absolutely impossible for any of the Wires to slip out, because this pin being small gets a sharp bite on the Wires where they are bent,

roo'

solidly in the slit o. of the handle and causes them to hug tenaciously against the crosspin a2, this binding-wire 'w being preferably engaged at its lower end by a flange a4, provided on the handle. The brush-Wires hav v ing been thus tightly boundvn immovable position in the handle are spread out in the shape substantially as shown in Fig. l, and

are then stitched or tied together by a cord orother means c, bein g separated into a'series of small bunches or groups, as indicated at l 213 4, dro., Fig. 1.

In'order to prevent the stitches of the cord -c from sliding or working up and down on the smooth wires, I provide a kink c in the Wires and place one of the strands of the cord in the hollow of this kink, as indicated at c2, Fig. 2,'and the other strand at the adjacent bend on the opposite side of the wire, this kink being formed by crimping the wires preferably from one extreme edge of the brush to the opposite edge, although `for some purposes it is suicient to crimp sim ply the outermost bunches of the brush, thereby retaining the cord immovably at its ends, and it Willbe understood that certain other of the smallbunches may be crimped Without necessarily crimping all of the bunches, although I prefer the latter construction, as shown. Having provided the wires with the kinks c and stitched them in spread-out relation, as shown, it becomes impossible for the cord to creep along the wires in either construction.

While I prefer the exact construction as shown, it will be' understood that I am not limited thereto, but that many changes, omissions, and additions may be had Without departing from my invention, and that I am not otherwise limited than as hereinafter cxpressed in the claims.

- Having described lmy invention, what IA claim as new, and desire to secure'by Letters Patent, is-

1. Awire brush or broom, comprisingahandle and brush-wires, said handle having a transverse longitudinal slit in its brush end,

said slit'providing opposite substantially-parallel plane supporting-walls, and a cross-pin spanning said slit above the bottom thereof, the brush-wires being held in said slit bcneath said cross-pin, bent sharply on themselves over said pin and packed tightly in thc slit, and suitable binding means encompassing said handle and the brush-wires, said brush Wires being spread out into small bunches and held in spread position by a tying-cord, the said Wires being provided with a kink in which said cord is tied, substantially as described.

2. A wire brush or broom, comprisinga handle and brush-Wires, the hand-leghaving a slit a in its holding end,.and across-pin removed from the bottom of said slit, the brush-Wires being bentl beneath said p in and packed snugly in said slit, a binding-wire holding said Wires in place in said handle, and said brush-wires -being spread out and provided With transverse kinks intermediate their ends andthe handle, and a tying-cord engaging said Wires at said kinks for maintaining the wires in spread-out position, substantially as described.

3. In a Wire brush containing brush-Wires spread out in a fiat series of small bunches, the herein-described means of securing them in permanent relative position, consisting of providing kinks in said Wires and fastening the Wires together by cords tiedinto said ED\VARD E. lIC h.

Witnesses:

PERcY S. J oNEs, 'FRANcrs A. DODGE. 

